The Trouble With Monk Watching
by SweetMisery430
Summary: [FE:SS] Artur has a mild fear of spiders. Lute is fascinated by them. Unfortunately for Artur, the two of them are sent to do away with a rather large one. The outcome of this cannot be pleasant... [LuteArtur][oneshot]


This is just a one-shot I was inspired to write by the Lute and Artur supports. Please enjoy!

Disclaimer – I don't own Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones.

**The Trouble With Monk-Watching**

_A loud creaking noise woke him suddenly._

_Artur shot up in bed and looked around warily. He saw nothing but his plain, ordinary bedroom. He decided that it was most likely the wind making those disturbing noises, and attempted to go back to sleep. It was, after all, still rather early in the morning, and he'd had much trouble sleeping the night before. He fell back into a light sleep. Little did he know what was about to happen…_

_Lute sat right behind the door to Artur's room, a small glass jar in her hands. _Good, _she thought to herself, glancing at the young monk through the slightly open door. _It seems like this is going to work… _Her eyes fell on the small creatures occupying the container before her._

"_Do not fail me, little ones. Rid Artur of his notorious fear!" she whispered. _

_Then she shook her head. _What am I saying? I'm a prodigy. No plan of mine will ever fail!

_Slowly but surely, she unscrewed the lid of the jar. The eight-legged beings, eager to escape into the world around them – _And why wouldn't they be? We live in a fascinating world, _Lute thought to herself_ –_ scampered out of their prison. Lute watched as they scurried into Artur's room and approached his bed. _

Good luck, my beloved spiders…

_She kneeled next to the door, listening. At first, nothing happened. Of course this made sense – spiders were not the fastest animals in the world._

"_AHHH! SPIDERS!"_

_And then, a moment later –_

"_LUTE!"_

_She silently laughed to herself. Despite that fact that it seemed as though her plan had failed, the whole thing was rather funny. She decided that she was not at fault for this failure, anyways – Artur was a special case who needed extra care. She would just have to think of a new solution. She grabbed her fire tome and went to assist him. After all, if he kept up this shouting, she'd never be able to escape and finish up her reading.

* * *

_

It was a bland, boring morning. Lost in thought, Lute almost forgot she was in the middle of a battle. Fortunately for her, Artur was close behind her, and ready to pull her back into reality.

"Getting distracted again, Lute?" he asked, only a tiny hint of exasperation finding its way into his voice. "You really should pay attention during a battle, at least, instead of retreating into your own little world…"

Lute rolled her eyes. "I already know all there is to know about the enemies we've been fighting. I have no need to pay further attention to them. Besides, as an acute observer, I have noticed that the area I have been assigned to take care of is completely empty. And now, my work is done, so I may do whatever I please with my free time."

_And I have chosen to use it for monk-watching. _

Artur sighed. "Always in your own little world… Anyhow, Eirika was just here, although you didn't notice. She wanted us to check out that area over there, near the mountains, just in case there are any more monsters lurking."

"Hmm…" Lute said thoughtfully. "The specie of ancient creatures that is most likely to remain hidden in a mountain would be… let's see… ah, the arachnids! Yes, indeed! See, I do know everything."

"Wait, what?" asked Artur, surprised. "Arachnids? Aren't those…?"

"Spiders? Yes, of course!" Lute replied, already making her way towards the mountains, leaving Artur behind. "I believe they are fairly weak against magic, so they will fall against my powerful spells in no time! You've no need to worry. And this is a species I've yet to get close to! Oh, this is so exciting! Come, Artur, let's go!"

"S-spiders?" he repeated, frozen in his spot. "Spiders? N-no, not spiders…"

Lute stopped in her tracks and turned around. "Artur, come on! I want to get a good look at these creatures! I want to see if the webs they shoot out are really made of silk… or if they're really as tall as The Complete Dictionary of Arachnids claims they are…"

"Webs? Tall?" cried Artur. "Wait, these aren't just tiny spiders? They're… they're BIG ones?"

"Why, of course, silly!" explained Lute. "Have you read anything? The records of the time of the Demon King list giant spiders as one of his greatest followers. I thought even YOU would read up on information like that."

"I can't do this!" Artur said fearfully. "I… The spiders… I can't…"

Lute tilted her head to the side. Was it just her, or was Artur having a mental breakdown because of a mere, 6 foot tall spider?

"Just think of them as large, furry, cuddly things," Lute encouraged him. "Now come on, don't keep them waiting!"

"FURRY?" exclaimed Artur. "O divine light! They're furry?"

Lute sighed. "Of course! You obviously have not studied spiders at all."

"Well, it's not in my line of work!" Artur responded in a panicky voice. "And I hate spiders! Why would I study them?"

"Then I guess you don't know about their one thousand eyes, or their poisonous claws, either…" she said.

"WHAT?" he yelled.

"That's it! I cannot wait any longer!" Lute decided. "I must see the spiders!"

She grabbed Artur by the arm and began to drag him towards the mountains – or attempted to, at least. Unfortunately, they were stopped dead in their tracks. A huge, hulking creature jumped out suddenly and landed right in front of them. Its reflection could be seen in the eyes of the two magic users – Artur's horrified ones, and Lute's, filled with wonder.

"Oh, heaven protect us!" wailed Artur.

"It's beautiful," breathed Lute.

Before them stood a tall, magnificent-looking spider.

Artur, frozen, fumbled for his Lightning tome, but could not seem to find it. He could not think straight. His gaze did not leave the spider. It had trapped him with one icy stare.

Lute, on the other hand, watched the spider with fascination. She even slightly advanced toward it, in order to get a closer look.

"So this is what an arachnid looks like," she muttered. "It's even more marvelous than I thought! I love it! I wish it weren't poisonous; otherwise I'd take it home as a pet…"

"L-lute!" hissed Artur, still pinned down by the spider's many eyes. "H-help me!"

"But Artur, don't you see? I'm trying to study this lovely spider!" she responded. "Now hold on while I count its eyes…"

"Lute!" Artur repeated. "What are you doing?"

Lute got as close as she dared to the spider, and leaned forward. "Now let's see… one… two… thr – "

Suddenly, the spider lashed out. Fortunately, Lute managed to dodge it just in time. "That's no way to treat someone who's trying to study you!"

The spider, of course, didn't understand her, and made some sort of strange gargling noise. Artur began to panic once again.

"Lute, get away from it! It's… it's doing something!"

Lute sighed. "Well, this is just a shame. Now I'm going to have to kill it instead of study it…. Oh well! Now I can see how its body functions when it receives an injury!"

To Artur's great relief, Lute finally pulled out her Fire tome. Now this spider would be taken care of, once and for all. He watched as Lute began to chant the incantation and cast the spell. Streams of fire hit the spider moments later, and it stumbled backwards. However, it was not defeated.

"Attack it again!" cried Artur.

"I can't!" responded Lute. "I am not agile enough to do such a thing, before – "

She never had the chance to finish, because the spider lashed out one of its claws and delivered a blow to Lute – and this time, she did not dodge in time.

"Ouch!" Lute cried, and then stumbled and fell to the ground. "Well, this is not good…"

Then, Lute began to glow a faint pinkish color. Worried by Lute's current state, Artur snapped out of his frozen position and ran to her.

"Lute! Are you alright?"

"Of… course…" she forced out, although she was obviously lying. "I… just got some of… the spider's poison… injected into my body…but it will fade away in several minutes… if it doesn't kill me first…"

"WHAT?" cried Artur. "O divine light… this is not good…"

Seeing Artur's horrified expression, she added, "I do have a vulnerary."

After seeing that Artur had calmed down just a bit, she continued, with much remorse - "I… am sorry to say… that you must defeat… my beloved study specimen…"

"B-but… I can't! The spider will – "

"Well then… we can both die…" Lute informed him. "Although… that might not be so bad… after all, I've yet to experience or study death in depth…"

Artur's mouth dropped open. "Oh… oh, fine, I'll deal with the spider!"

He fumbled for his Lightning tome, and luckily, found it this time around. Then he sent a quick prayer up into the heavens.

"Please, give me the strength to defeat my enemy, o – "

Then, once again, the spider landed right in front of Artur with a jump, causing the ground to vibrate slightly.

"- divine light!" finished Artur, backing away. "Ahhhh!"

The spider watched him, almost thoughtfully. It was probably plotting out the best way to kill him. Artur knew he had to do something, fast. In fact, he may even have to get over his paralyzing fear within the next thirty seconds.

"Um, hello, spider," he said. "Yes, uh… you're a… very nice spider, aren't you? Uh, yes… I… I am sure you are… only playing with me, right?"

The spider let out a frightful hissing sound in response.

"Ah! Alright, maybe not…"

He took a deep breath and gripped his Lightning tome. As the spider grew ever closer, he tried to recall the words that made up the spell's incantation, but in his panicky state, they were slipping his mind!

When the spider was only one foot away, Artur began rapidly praying to heaven for his soul to be saved and that, if possible, his body, too.

A small voice in the back of his head said, _Well, at least even if you die, you and Lute will die together._

"We're not going to die," Artur told himself, although he sounded anything but certain. "We're not going to die! We can't die! After all that has happened…"

Finally, he found his memory, and began to chant the spell. In the background, Lute sighed with relief. It appeared as though Artur was experiencing the rare event of a critical hit, in which an attack did three times as much damage as it usually did. The spider was as good as gone.

Rays of light came down and surrounded the spider. It appeared to be jolted, and then fell to the ground. Then, it dissolved, just as the Demon King's servants were bound to do once defeated.

Lute suddenly felt her body cleansed of the spider's poison. It must have worn off! She got to her feet.

"See, spiders really aren't that bad," she told a ghostly white faced, silent Artur.

In response, Artur fell to the ground in a dead faint.

"Well, this is an interesting development," she observed.

* * *

Hours later, Artur awoke in the army's camp, lying down on a blanket with a cold cloth on his forehead. He examined the tent, and realized, to his relief, that it was all over. 

"Is this… heaven?" he asked tentatively. "Because… it resembles Eirika's camp very closely…"

"Although I have not seen heaven with my own eyes, I do not think it would look like Eirika's camp," Lute's voice responded in an all too serious tone.

"Oh, Lute!" he cried. "You're safe! Thank the heavens! We survived that horrible being."

"Well, it's thanks to your experiencing of a critical hit," Lute explained. "Although this caused you to pass out… but the spider is now dead and gone, which is a bit of a disappointment to me, although it was rather interesting to see it dissolve…"

"A critical what?" Artur asked, confused.

"Never mind," Lute said hurriedly. Silence. "Um… I guess I need to thank you for, uh, eliminating the spider… even if it was my latest research specimen. I could have defeated it myself – I am a genius and extremely talented, of course – but I thought I would leave it to you, since you needed a way to prove yourself."

"Prove myself?" he asked, surprised. "Why?"

"Well, I've been watching you, Artur," Lute admitted. "I have a habit. It's called monk-watching. I wanted to discover the truth about monks. Are they really just frail, weak men who only pray and practice light magic to pass the time? Or are they really strong and brave on the inside? And thanks to you, I have confirmed my answer to this question!"

"So I've been your latest research subject?" Artur replied with a sigh. "I see… so, I suppose I've proved that we are a rather… frail and weak group of men, aren't we?"

"No, quite the opposite!" Lute responded. "You may not have much physical strength, but your magic is quite potent – although I already knew that, as I have magic that is even more potent than yours! But you also showed great spiritual strength in the face of adversity, which I suppose should count for something. I wonder if I could achieve such spiritual strength…"

Artur looked thoughtful. "You could if you tried. When you set your mind to something, you always accomplish it."

"Of course!" agreed Lute. "I am, after all, a prodigy…"

Another silence fell upon them.

"But…" Lute began slowly, "I've always wanted to try being a monk…"

"You have to, uh, be a man to be a monk, Lute," Artur explained.

"Hmm? Oh, I know that. Of course I knew that! Artur, are you doubting my knowledge? I said I wanted to be one, not that I was going to become one! Besides, being a genius mage suits me! Becoming a monk would only degrade me!"

Artur couldn't help but laugh at this. "You never change, do you, Lute?"

"What's so funny? Why are you laughing at me, huh?" Lute demanded. "There's nothing funny about it. If you're going to keep on laughing like that, I'm leaving."

She turned to go, but Artur grabbed her by the wrist. "Wait! Uh, I have to tell you something."

Curiously, she turned back around. "What?"

"Um…" Artur said, blushing. "I, uh… I'll always be a coward when it comes to spiders. They scare me half to death, as I'm sure you know… But anyways, I wanted to, uh, thank you for… encouraging me… to defeat such a creature. I don't think I'll ever stop being afraid of spiders, but I suppose I'll be AS afraid anymore…But it's thanks to you, Lute. So thank you."

She appeared speechless in response to this. "Uh…"

"So, it seems your monk-watching habit has paid off in the end!" he continued brightly.

"I guess so," she agreed.

"So, uh," he said, blushing once again, "would you mind doing it for a bit longer?"

Lute considered this for a moment. "Well… I suppose I could. You are a rather… interesting subject to study. And you aren't that bad to look at, either."

"Oh, thanks," Artur said sarcastically, although there was a smile on his face.

"And… you did do a pretty good job of protecting me today – although I'm in no need of protection," she added hurriedly. "So, uh… I guess perhaps I am… indebted to you."

"Hmm…Say, Lute… would you mind, uh… humming a bit for me?" Artur asked suddenly. "I rather enjoy your humming… and it will serve as pay off for your debt to me."

Taken aback by the unexpected request, Lute paused for a minute. "Alright," she finally agreed. "I will."

So as the day faded into night, and the sun disappeared from the sky, all that could be heard throughout the camp was Lute's humming – a sweet sound that brought peace to all of the listeners.

Then, Lute realized something. Even if Artur was deathly afraid of spiders, she still rather liked having him around. Maybe it was just because she liked watching monks, or maybe it was because of something else. Nevertheless, she felt very relaxed as she sat there and hummed him to sleep.

Once Artur was asleep, she merely sat there and watched him late into the night, until the moon, high in the sky, and the infinite amount of stars were the only sources of light. And then, once exhaustion overtook her, she curled up next to him and drifted off to sleep.


End file.
